Pancake breakfast for a cause

November 21, 2015

Annese Bleichert

A pancake breakfast and a garage sale to raise money to build a well in Tanzania took place Saturday morning in the cafeteria of the Pine Hills Elementary School.

The project was started in memory of Mary Stella Greco,the aunt of a teacher at Pine Hills Elementary, who spent her life helping others around the world through missionary work and monetary donations, Pine Hills Elementary students are continuing her legacy by working to raise money to create a freshwater well in Tanzania.

Volunteering students at the Pine Hills Elementary School working at the bake sale. /Annese Bleichert

The fundraiser charged $5 for a choice of plain or chocolate chip pancakes, sausage, hash browns and juice and ran from 8 a.m. until noon.

Third grade teacher Deann Lynch is in charge of the project in memory of Greco who passed away in December of 2013. Lynch said that this is the second year of the event and she estimated about 150 to 200 people would show up during the four-hour time slot.

So far, students, staff, and donors have raised $11,500 of their goal of $15,000 this year and Lynch is sure they will go over their goal with the help of donations from stores. “Learn, lead, and change the world,” Lynch said. “That is one of my favorite things to tell my students.”

Lynch and Michelle Chiappone said that they only plan on building one well in Tanzania. They are hoping to build a relationship with the community.

“Ideally this well will be built near a school in which we hope to have a connection with so that when we have future fundraisers, we can donate them books and supplies,” said Chiappone.

The garage sale that took place at the North Allen Street school consisted of a bake sale where students volunteered to work shifts at. All of the bakery items being sold were 50 cents each. Other garage sale items consisted of clothing, books, decorations, toys, jewelry, hats etc. All profits from the garage sale were also going towards the well being built in Tanzania.

One neighborhood resident, Michael Melita received an email about the event. “Water is a very important in Africa, it’s a real and it’s an increasing problem. A well can change a whole community; it’s a very good idea,” said Melita “I wanted to see the community members, I like pancakes, I like hash browns and it’s something worth attending. ” -30-